Me and Bear

Chapter three

Austin

The night is relatively quiet and my frantically thumping heart has now calmed. During the few hours between Bruin walking me home and now, I have only managed to change into some comfy clothes I only wear at home: a pair of sweatpants, a humongous hoodie and my fuzziest socks that just so happen to be a light pink colour.

Rummaging through the fridge, I decide on making some noodles with minced meat for dinner. Putting the pot of water on the stove to boil, I look around my house in boredom. It is a small family home and it was all me and my parents needed back when they were still... here. An open floor plan for the kitchen, dining area and living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. My favourite place in the whole house is the big armchair next to the couch because it just swallows me into itself and I like the warmness it creates that way. Add in a fleece blanket and I'm sold.

Now that the water is boiling, I put some spaghetti in there and take out a small pan to start frying the minced meat. Frying anything is and always has been a hazardous task for me because every time something on the pan goes 'pop', I flinch or jump away from the stove entirely. I'm really jumpy sometimes and frying can be divided into two main parts: checking the stuff on the pan and jumping away from the pan. I have felt the grease burn before and I do not want to feel it again.

Luckily for me, I've gotten a hang of the seasoning over the years. At first, it was just shaking some salt and pepper on and hoping it was enough only for the food to either turn out to be really bland or way too salty. Like my mum used to say, "measure by feeling". Imagine my horror every time I was asked to make lunch or dinner and having to season it. I'm more of a recipe kinda guy, where every measurement is certain like "a teaspoon of salt" or something. I don't know how to measure things by feeling. But as I already mentioned, it has gotten better over the years so now I just power through the whole process.

Ten minutes later, the food is ready and I make myself a heaping plate of spaghetti. Adding some ketchup and grabbing a fork, I make my way to the living room, the armchair being my intended destination. I plop my body into it and start shovelling food into my mouth because it has been way too much time since lunch. To my luck, the spaghetti isn't too hot so that my mouth remains unscathed by the hellish fire... Dismissing my odd turn of thoughts, I snuggle into the fuzzy-blanket-covered armchair and instead focus on enjoying every mouthful.

After my dinner is eaten and the dishes done, I head to the bathroom for a nice warm shower. The small room steams up quickly and I hop in after a brief scan of myself in the mirror above the sink. I will have to cut my hair sometime soon as the light brown strands are getting a bit too long for my taste. My grey-blue eyes are as lively as they've ever been, still slightly bigger than I'd like them to be. Sometimes I remind myself of those Disney princesses with their huge eyes. Obviously mine aren't that big but the similarity is there.

After I have made sure to wash every nook and cranny squeaky clean, I make my way to the bedroom while toweling my hair. A clean pair of boxers and the hoodie I had on before my shower is all I pull on before I make my way back to the living room. There, I snuggle back into my favourite dark blue armchair and wrap the blanket on it around me. Grabbing a book from the coffee table, namely Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, I settle myself in for the rest of the evening.

***

I'm awake before my alarm. The clock on my bedside table shows 6:52. I'll just close my eyes for those brief eight minutes... I don't have work today but waking early is a habit I formed voluntarily during my high school days. It helps me make something of my day and not just lounge around in bed until noon. An early start to the day gives me so much more time to get things done, also it makes me feel better and more energized.